THoon

Anyone know how the paddle shifters in the IS compare to other brands like Mitsubishi, Acura, BMW, Ifiniti, etc...? Are the other brands shifters also actually gear limiters or do they actually work like a manual tranny?

cancellino

Unless it is a Ferrari, I am pretty certain, they are "limiters"...

ldc

It's fully automatic setup with only manual upshift. The system will downshift automatically even if you don't as the car slows down. The only system i heard that is fully manual-like is the SMG....and i think the Porche's too but i haven't personally tested thing.

sincityIS

You forget about Porsche, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, and Maserati. I am sure I am forgetting a few.

Lexus88

i like how on my IS it shifts pretty quick.. on my bmw 3 series, it would take about 2 seconds before it even shifts...

sirkfc

no, the SMG still downshifts for you if your RPMs are too low for the gear you indicated. I don't see that much of a difference between the two except that the SMG shifts faster upon request, but also is really hard to drive smoothly.

cneeley

I like the way audi's tiptronic works more than the lex. Say you put it into tiptronic accelerate up to 3rd gear as you slow down it will automatically downshift you back down to first if you come to a stop... so if you accelerate again you have to shift from first to second to third. Also if you're accelerating sort of hard but want to shift at 3-4k rpm's (I used to do this in the morning merging onto freeway before the engine was warmed up) in the lex it still just holds the gear even if you shift whereas the audi it would put you in any gear you wanted as long as it didn't go over redline or stall the car out. Definitely a lot more control. (This is from my experience from my 98 Audi a6.)

fdelement

iTrader: (1)

i drove a stick for the last 7 years of my life. Once i went to the paddle shifters it just doesn't do it for me so i never use it. I also tried the paddle shifters on BMW and Infiniti and they're all the same.

cneeley

Well obviously the car downshifts to first but then when you start to accelerate it just shifts normally until you get to whatever gear your paddle shifter is held at. The audi you would have to tell the car to shift out of first again. I'm not explaining very well but instead of hitting the left paddle shift three or four times down to hold the car in first again at a stop the audi automatically holds it in first until you upshift again.

Bichon

My Audi had a manual, but over my years of ownership I drove plenty of loaners with Tiptronic automatics. I like the Tiptronic system much better. Clicking the stick towards "+" would compel the Audi to upshift, doing the same on the Lex only permits the transmission to upshift (if the computer thinks it is a good idea).

LexusTexas

They do nothing for me on my 250 other than get in the way. I'm thinking of taking a dremel to them.

mir

do not use them at all. It is annoying at best after driving MT cars for 15 years.

ub2slow

Not sure about other cars but they pretty much suck in the Lexus. Not even close to the feel of a manual. I used them a few times and realized what a joke they are and haven't touched them since.

Tungsten25

The paddles are just devices to make people think the car is more sporty. They are just a conversation starting for people that have never seen them before. I drive a Mitsubishi Lancer GTS with paddles for my work car and they work much better better than the IS. I wish they felt more like the Lancer of the Mercedes SLK55 I drove, but I guess we can't get everything in one car.

tw88

There's really no technological reason they designed the manual mode to behave like this. The only reason I can think of is Lexus wants to protect itself from lawsuits in case some idiot decides to merge into heavy traffic in too high a gear and gets no power.